Programs and Tours

This festive annual Welcome Week event introduces new UM students to the lively arts scene at Michigan. The "Passport to the Arts" activity, which features games related to each of the arts offered on campus, has become a favorite. Student performances and prizes round out this exciting event that typically draws 3,500 – 4,000 students.

Consponsored by Arts at Michigan and with support from the University of Michigan Credit Union.

This year the Residential College selected this classic as its "summer reads" book. In the film, based on the popular L. Frank Baum stories, Dorothy and her dog Toto are caught in a tornado's path and somehow end up in the Land of Oz. Well, you know the story—it's about having a heart, a brain, and courage, vital ingredients in crafting a life worth living. Over the Rainbow (music and lyrics by Harold Arlen and E. Y. "Yip" Harburg) won the Oscar for Best Music Song. If you've never seen it, it's time you did. And if you've seen it lots of times, this is a good time to add another viewing to your life list.

This exhibition allows visitors to explore two extraordinary collections of art—the Robert M. and Lillian Montalto Bohlen Collection of Wood Art and the Daniel and Harriet Fusfeld Folk Art Collection. The Bohlen collection presents an astonishing range of contemporary artworks fashioned from wood and includes works that explore traditional and non-traditional vessel forms as well as works that are more purely sculptural. The outstanding objects that make up the Fusfeld collection are both geographically and historically wide-ranging, including work by early nineteenth-century itinerant folk portraitists as well as late twentieth-century sculpture and painting by "outsider" artists from the American South, Midwest, and Northeast.

This exhibition is made possible in part by the Charles H. and Katherine C. Sawyer Endowment and the Richard and Rosann Noel Endowment Fund.

This is one of two new tours that looks at UMMA collections through the lens of a particular theme. "Political and Social Expressions in Art" considers art displaying political and social issues. Both new tours are offered in conjunction with the UM theme semester "What Makes Life Worth Living?"

This symposium focuses on the publishing, design, and distribution of art books and books on art in a time of rapid change in the publishing industry. The panelists, drawing on a wide range of professional experience, offer a diversity of perspectives as they reflect on both the challenges and the possibilities of publishing books in which the visual is paramount, in which images are integral and design conveys meaning. All propose ways of moving forward in uncertain, if exciting, times. For a complete program schedule please visit: www.lsa.umich.edu/histart

The symposium is co-organized by the UM Department of History of Art and the Museum of Art, with additional support from Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, School of Art and Design, International Institute, Rackham School of Graduate Studies, Institute for the Humanities, Department of English, Program in American Culture, and the Department of Screen Arts and Cultures.

This is one of two new tours that looks at UMMA collections through the lens of a particular theme. "The Collector's Eye" considers donors and collectors who have shaped UMMA holdings. Both new tours are offered in conjunction with the UM theme semester "What Makes Life Worth Living?"

UM Professor of Jazz, Dennis Wilson began his professional career with Lionel Hampton as trombonist, arranger, and musical director. He has been a lead/solo trombonist for the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band, The New Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, and for ten years with Mr. William James "Count" Basie and his Orchestra.

This monthly series, curated by UM Associate Professor Adam Unsworth, presents outstanding local artists in an intimate setting. These free events are made possible in part by the Doris Sloan Memorial Fund.

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This exciting performance series falls on the third Thursday of each month and features different student performers who work in a variety of media including music, comedy, dance, and spoken word. A great way to spend an evening with your friends and to experience the exceptional talent of UM students in an intimate setting. This series is curated and produced by UMMA's Student Programming and Advisory Board. Students interested in performing may view application details at www.umma.umich.edu/for-students/

Celebrate the first event of the series as we reprise this outstanding and provocative dance performance, which premiered exclusively at UMMA in June. Click Flash Cut is an evening of dance, video, and music inspired by mass media. Choreographed by UM dance majors Tara Sheena, Emily Wanserski, and Sadie Yarrington, the performance explores ideas of celebrity and art through the lens of everyday media, like tabloids and the World Wide Web.

Cristian Nemescus's last film before his death in a car accident, California Dreamin', winner of a prestigious Cannes award in 2007, is based on a true story: a NATO train transporting military equipment is stopped in the middle of nowhere by an overzealous chief of a Romanian train station. Set against the backdrop of the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the film explores with humor and gritty realism the impact that the arrival of the American soldiers led by Captain Jones has on the small village community. A cinematic tour de force not to be missed! (155 min, R for some sexual scenes, English subtitles)

Part of the Fourth Annual American Romanian Festival, this event is sponsored by Michigan Arts Council and Cultural Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts, University of Michigan Museum of Art, the Center for Russian and East European Studies, and the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.

This is one of two new tours that looks at UMMA collections through the lens of a particular theme. "The Collector's Eye" considers donors and collectors who have shaped UMMA holdings. Both new tours are offered in conjunction with the UM theme semester "What Makes Life Worth Living?"

Drawing inspiration from the Whistler exhibition, you will learn to create vibrant and compelling images through the process of relief printing without a press. This workshop focuses on composition, design, carving and how to transfer of an image to produce an expressive relief print. All materials included.

In this 1982 drama by Alexandru Tatos, three sequences, linked together to give a larger perspective on the nature of reality and film, are joined by one film crew at work on two different jobs. In the beginning, the crew is introduced as they juggle their dual roles as state-supported propagandists who laud their government and society, and as private moviemakers working on their own film. Next, they are in a restaurant looking for suitable locations to film when the eatery's owner, through no fault of his own, is induced to wax long and lugubriously on his miserable life. In the last segment, two extras are in the background of a scene, sitting at a table in a restaurant. It slowly becomes apparent to one of them that the man he's sitting with tortured him more than 40 years ago at a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. (98 min, NR, English subtitles)

Please join American Romanian Festival Executive Director Marian Tanau and Ramona Uritescu-Lombard, an expert in Romanian cinema and lecturer in the German and Comparative Literature departments at UM, for a talk about Alexandru Tatos and Q&A after the film.

Part of the Fourth Annual American Romanian Festival, this event is sponsored by Michigan Arts Council and Cultural Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts, University of Michigan Museum of Art, the Center for Russian and East European Studies, and the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.

A Trip To The City (2003, Corneliu Porumboiu, 19 min, Cinefondation Prize, Cannes 2004, Best Prize-Montpelier, France 2004, English subtitles)

A beautiful morning, the need of the internet in a little village, and the toilet that the mayor's wife is crying for, bring together the computer pensioned teacher and the mayor's driver for a little trip to the nearby city in this short film by Corneliu Porumboiu, the director of 12:08 East of Bucharest and Police Adjective.

From the director of Death of Mr. Lazarescu comes this short movie about a very common problem with which elder generations are confronted: the issue of knowing little and being offered even less. An old man enters a restaurant in Bucharest. He takes a seat at a table where a younger man who looks like he could be a successful businessman is already eating dessert. Their conversation revolves around a job opening for the older man, who has been out of work for two years. However, if you want work these days, it's no good coming empty-handed—even if it's your son who's doing the employing.

It's morning. A man wakes up and gets ready for a new day of work or maybe for a short trip. His wife makes him breakfast and then she prepares him a little suitcase. The man leaves, exits the apartment building. The man returns using the back entrance. A farce without a dialogue between the characters.

Three young men come to Romania to bring humanitarian aid. The inhabitants of a small mountain village await them.

Challenge Day (2004, Napoleon Helmis, 10 min, English subtitles)

Today is Challenge Day. This means everybody must engage in sports. It is a competition between a city in Romania and one in Japan.

American Romanian Festival Executive Director Marian Tanau and Ramona Uritescu-Lombard, an expert in Romanian cinema and lecturer in the German and Comparative Literature departments at UM, will provide introductions to each of the films and host a Q&A afterward.

Part of the Fourth Annual American Romanian Festival, this event is sponsored by Michigan Arts Council and Cultural Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts, University of Michigan Museum of Art, the Center for Russian and East European Studies, and the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.

This is one of two new tours that looks at UMMA collections through the lens of a particular theme. "Political and Social Expressions in Art" considers art displaying political and social issues. Both new tours are offered in conjunction with the UM theme semester "What Makes Life Worth Living?"

In this 2009 film by Corneliu Porumboiu, Cristi is a policeman who refuses to arrest a young man who offers hash to two of his schoolmates. Cristi believes that the law will change; he does not want the life of a young man he considers irresponsible to be a burden on his conscience. For his superior the word conscience has an entirely different meaning. (115 min, NR, English subtitles)

American Romanian Festival Executive Director Marian Tanau and Ramona Uritescu-Lombard, an expert in Romanian cinema and lecturer in the German and Comparative Literature departments at UM, will introduce the film and host a Q&A after the film.

Part of the Fourth Annual American Romanian Festival, this event is sponsored by Michigan Arts Council and Cultural Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts, University of Michigan Museum of Art, the Center for Russian and East European Studies, and the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.

Enjoy this opportunity to view and learn about rare Tibetan Buddhist paintings from the UM Museum of Anthropology collections as Rob Davis, Executive Director of Copper Colored Mountain Arts, lectures and leads a hands-on workshop on these compelling works of art. Rob Davis studied with Pema Rinzin at the Rubin Museum in New York City and also teaches the art of thangka painting. Mr. Davis' lecture will be followed by the opportunity to view several rare thangkas in the UMMA Education Center.

This program is cosponsored by the Museum of Anthropology, the Museum of Art, and the LSA Theme Semester.

For more information about other Theme Semester programs, please visit the website at http://wmlwl.com/

This is one of two new tours that looks at UMMA collections through the lens of a particular theme. "Political and Social Expressions in Art" considers art displaying political and social issues. Both new tours are offered in conjunction with the UM theme semester "What Makes Life Worth Living?"

This 1979 Alexandru Tatos drama is set in a border town occupied by the Germans on the Danube in 1944. There are plenty of collaborators eager to please the Germans. A number of the young men join the partisans, which by orders of the Germans are to be killed on sight. When a Serbian partisan is killed and the orders are to have his body thrown into the village, forbidding anyone to bury it, Anastasia refuses to obey the order. (100 min, English subtitles)

Please join American Romanian Festival Executive Director Marian Tanau and Ramona Uritescu-Lombard, an expert in Romanian cinema and lecturer in the German and Comparative Literature departments at UM, for a discussion and Q&A after the film.

Part of the Fourth Annual American Romanian Festival, this event is sponsored by Michigan Arts Council and Cultural Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts, University of Michigan Museum of Art, the Center for Russian and East European Studies, and the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.

La Metropolitaine (The Metropolitan, 2010, Dan Popa, 24 min, TIFF 2010 entry, Fiction)
The Metropolitan is an experimental fiction film that combines architecture, travel and love. The love story takes place in seven underground subway systems around the world. The film is characterized by colors and poetry which depict themes on life in transition. Visually the film consists of a montage of 21000 pictures from several hundred subway stations as we follow the protagonist in his search for true love.

Midi (Noon, 2008, Dan Popa, 6 min, TIFF 2008 entry, Fiction)
Today is Koppa's birthday, and he is celebrating it by sitting on his 9th floor balcony and putting the finishing touches on his customized fishing hooks. After dinner, and a brief one-way conversation, Koppa reveals to the audience the nature of his anxiety; he hates his own inability to do anything about his future.

Dan Popa is a Montreal-based filmmaker of Romanian origin who directs and photographs his own work. He studied filmmaking at Concordia University and has worked as a freelancer in both film and design. In 2006, he started NATALI film, his own film production company. His research focuses on the exploration of contradictions, both aesthetically and formally, through new cinematic approaches. He is currently working on a poetic feature film, shot on four continents, about the rise and fall of a republic that never existed.

Nunta lui Oli (Oli's Wedding) (Tudor Cristian Jurgiu, 22 min)
Oli's Wedding won the Best Romanian Short Film Award at NexT IFF 2009. Alone in his kitchen in Bucharest, Dorel prepares for what seems to be a party. Actually, it's his son's wedding which takes place in the USA. Dorel is going to watch the wedding through a webcam together with two of his son's friends. On the small display they are going to meet the bride and her father and will witness the ceremony. A bittersweet story about scattered families and lonely parents.

Please join visiting director Dan Popa, American Romanian Festival Executive Director Marian Tanau and Ramona Uritescu-Lombard, an expert in Romanian cinema and lecturer in the German and Comparative Literature departments at UM, for a discussion and Q&A after the screenings.

Part of the Fourth Annual American Romanian Festival, this event is sponsored by Michigan Arts Council and Cultural Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts, University of Michigan Museum of Art, the Center for Russian and East European Studies, and the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.

This is one of two new tours that looks at UMMA collections through the lens of a particular theme. "The Collector's Eye" considers donors and collectors who have shaped UMMA holdings. Both new tours are offered in conjunction with the UM theme semester "What Makes Life Worth Living?"

To close the Fourth Annual American Romanian Festival UMMA will host a wonderful evening of chamber music featuring Ann Arbor and Detroit based artists performing works by composers George Enescu and Robert Schumann. Soprano Jennifer Goltz and pianist Larisa Simington will open the concert with two exquisite and unique sets of songs Enescu set to French poets Fernand Gregh (1873–1960) and Clement Marot (1496–1544). These songs, as well as Enescu's second cello sonata The Weed, evoke Romanian folk music traditions. The concert will conclude with the beautiful Piano Quartet of Robert Schumann, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth, performed by UM Piano Professor Christopher Harding and DSO Musicians Marian Tanau, violin, Jim Van Valkenburg, viola, and Marcy Chanteaux, cello.

This event is sponsored by the Michigan Arts Council and Cultural Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts, University of Michigan Museum of Art, the Center for Russian and East European Studies, and the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.

Participatory media and information sources have become ubiquitous online, but most museums, libraries, and cultural institutions maintain traditional perspectives on authorial control and the visitors' role as consumers, not collaborators. This lecture by Nina Simon--author of The Participatory Museum (2010) and the Museum 2.0 blog--presents design techniques, international examples, and opportunities for Museum 2.0 cultural institutions that incorporate user participation into their work. Simon will address techniques for designing collaborative processes whose outputs are valuable not only to participants but to staff and non-participating visitors as well. The unique and specific value that participatory techniques can bring to cultural institutions will be discussed, as well as the limitations and challenges to established practice.

Nina Simon is an independent exhibition designer who has been described as a "museum visionary" by Smithsonian Magazine. She is the principal of Museum 2.0, a design firm that works with cultural institutions worldwide on innovative projects that invite visitors to engage as collaborators and active participants.

This event is organized by the University of Michigan Museum Studies Program and cosponsored by the University of Michigan Museum of Art.

Area teachers will take a private tour of On the Beauty of the Everyday: The Prints of James McNeill Whistler with exhibition curator Carole McNamara, experience a hands-on activity, and receive teaching materials. A light snack will be provided to kick-off the evening.

Danielle Evans's work has appeared in magazines including The Paris Review, A Public Space, Callaloo, and Phoebe. Her stories have been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories 2008 and are forthcoming in New Stories from the South and The Best American Short Stories 2010. Her short story collection, Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, will be published by Riverhead books in September; she is currently at work on a novel entitled The Empire Has No Clothes. She teaches fiction at American University in Washington, DC.

UMMA is pleased to be the site for the Department of English Program in Creative Writing Zell Visiting Writers Series, which brings outstanding writers each semester. The Series is made possible through a generous gift from UM alumna Helen Zell ('64). For more information, please see www.lsa.umich.edu/english/grad/mfa/mfaeve.asp